Haskins spent the 2018 season bouncing back and forth between running back and linebacker. It seemed like he was bound for linebacker until the great mass exodus of running backs hit, removing Karan Higdon (senior), Chris Evans (dumb mistake), and O’Maury Samuels (allegedly really dumb mistake) from the roster. Now the dearth of running backs creates a need for someone like Haskins to be ready to contribute, especially because true freshman Zach Charbonnet had knee surgery in the spring.

All that being said, Haskins is still probably buried on the depth chart at running back. If Charbonnet comes back healthy, the trio of Charbonnet, Tru Wilson, and Christian Turner seem likely to eat up most of the carries. But injuries happen, so maybe Haskins slips into a contributing role at some point. He will be battling against the likes of redshirt freshman fullback/tailback Ben Van Sumeren, who played quite a bit in the spring with the absence of Charbonnet.

With spring practice beginning in Ann Arbor, there will be lots of positive talk and fluff around the program. Every position will be better than last year, and every newcomer will be compared to a past standout at his position.

And there are often position changes from season to season, so here are some switches that the players and coaches might consider.

Thanks to Bryan and Keith for the recent, generous donations through Paypal!

It’s been a long time coming because I’ve been so busy, but here are the final TTB Ratings for the class of 2018.

A note on the ratings: These are Michigan-specific ratings, so a guy who would be an instant starter at Eastern Michigan might not be quite so much of an individual standout playing against Michigan’s opponents . . . and he might even have a hard time getting on the field over some other Wolverines. It’s tricky trying to determine how the depth chart will shake out over the next three to five years, but I’m here for the heavy lifting. For more of an explanation, check out this page here (LINK).

Haskins is perhaps the least heralded of the running backs Michigan brought in with the 2018 class. That’s to be expected when a guy’s next best offers are from the likes of Eastern Michigan, Memphis, and New Mexico. Regardless, he was still a First Team All-State running back in Missouri, and he rushed for almost 2,200 yards with 30+ touchdowns. That was good enough to earn him an invitation to the International Bowl, where he played well but was second fiddle to Michigan commit Christian Turner, who was on the same team (LINK).

I like a lot of what Haskins brings to the table. He doesn’t have great top-end speed, but he has toughness, vision, the ability to run behind his pads, etc. I think he runs similarly to Saquon Barkley (but slower), and the best comparison I have for him as a Michigan running back is Brandon Minor. If he’s anywhere between Minor and Barkley, I think Michigan fans would be happy with that. He still looked thin to me at the International Bowl, and if he was already 205-207 lbs., then I think he needs to get up to about 215 lbs. or so. The departure of Kareem Walker moves Haskins a little closer to seeing the field, but I think he’ll be slightly behind Turner and Michael Barrett going into the season.